Tell me about wedges....

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d.weglarz13

Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
1,944
Well, really hanging an axe. Okay, so.....I am one who loves to make my tools "mine" by modifying, or at least putting my own hands to work a bit on the tool or knife. Which leads me to wanting to know everything i can about re hanging an axe. Now, ive read the few main links that tell the basics, but i want to know more personal ways of doing it. How do YOU guys go about it? Now, im not talking about making a handle, im talking about buying replacement handles made of hickory i guess, and fitting them to different axe heads that you may find at yard sales, whatever.
What do you use for a wedge? Just another piece of wood? On my Council Boys axe, it looks as though they used some type of very hard white material(not sure if its wood) for the wedge. Maybe it should be stronger wood than the handle wood? Im guessing most of you tap the handles in to the head with a mallet? I know some companies use a press, and can buy one if i need or make one, but im more than happy with a mallet or hammer if thats just as good.

Anyone know a site where i can buy extra handles of different lengths, maybe great already cut wedges, staples or pins to hold the wedge in, whatever glue/epoxy, etc??? Really, anything and everything for working on an axe?

I know its a lot of questions, but just maybe tell me what you guys do, when you get, lets say a nice little find at a garage sale or whatnot. Of course, any other informative links are great too if you have em. Thanks guys


dave
 
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i use househandle.com for all my handles, they do fine work. they have every handle for every tool, and every wedge and epoxy etc...
 
trailmaker said:
Council axes usually have aluminum wedges.....
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PVC wedges are pretty common in Council products, too. If it's white not silver then it's probably PVC. Supposedly the PVC wedges are more temperature stable than wood wedges. I've seen them come loose and I've re-used a couple.

For wedge material I want the hardest driest wood I can find. Lately that's been some London Plane salvaged from a neighbor's tree. Great stuff - it has a coarse gritty grain and the wedges stay stuck.

I like to shape my wedges to the eye. I'll round the edges of the wedge to fit the corners of the eye and actually test fit the wedge into the eye before final assembly. Then I bevel the top corners of the wedge before I drive it to help prevent splitting. Lately I've been using a little generic Swel-Lock on the haft and the wedge just before assembling. Then I'll apply another dab once the wedge is in and trimmed. I don't use metal wedges. I've never had an axe come loose since I've been using this method but in honesty only a couple of axes hung this way have been thoroughly tested.

Tap the wedge in hard but don't go nuts. I've cracked an eye before while driving the wedge.
 
I always used scrap hardwood from around the shop and shape it the eye Im putting a handle in..I personally dont like metal wedges, if its done right you dont need one..
 
Double Ott said:
+1 I agree, househandle.com has provided great service & handles for me.
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Maybe I was unlucky, but I ordered four axe handles from househandle (grade AA), and they were all terrible. Bad grain, inconsistent shape, tool marks that had to be filed and sanded out, and all of them covered in a thick, blister-forming shellac that takes a long time to sand off. While the prices were better than the local hardware stores, the quality was, if anything, worse. I wouldn't have selected any of them if I could have seen them first.

With postage being what it is I didn't try to return them, so I don't have any comment on the customer service. I just used them on heads I didn't care much about. But I definitely won't be ordering from them again.

At this point I'm trying to find a supply of hickory logs to split into blanks so I can make my own handles. It's not that I'm that particular, but how hard is it to cut a handle so the grain runs the correct way? Seems like only one in thirty handles is made properly.
 
When It comes to handles I use top grade USA hickory handles. If I cant get them then I use a locally sourced spotted gum handle these are proving to be a good product. wedges are usually either wood, or aluminium. When it comes to fitting one-I cheat, I pay my axe grinder to do it for me, that way they are in well, pinned and dead straight-if I was to do it I might get one in straight out fo say 10-its damn hard trying to steer an axe when your handle is crooked. Also at $70 for a new handle, fitted and the axe sharpened, honed and linished I reckon its a top deal!
 
I used to just use the wedges that came with handles, but a lot of times that wood has turned out to be too soft so I'd wind up having to fix it after some amount of use. Lately I've been making my own using walnut, it's hard and gives a nice bit of contrast. Though it is a bit on the brittle side. Would love to try some of that London Plane. I also like to leave about 1/8" of wedge proud of the top of the handle in case I need to adjust it down the road. (Thumbs down on the little metal wedges for the same reason) The humidity varies wildly where I live so sometimes you can get a good tight hang, take it out for a day or two and have to drive the wedge in again after because it dried some and shrunk.

I still haven't found a great way to drive those handle that are full, uncut fawn's foot with the pointy end. Anyone have any tips for that?
 
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